Former Blades galore, Huskies take 1-0 series lead over Cougars

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Huskies 6, Cougars 3

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Friends turned to foes.

Former teammates turned to fierce opponents.

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies and Mount Royal University Cougars are playing this weekend’s Canada West men’s hockey championship final with eight — count ’em, eight — former Saskatoon Blades in the line-up.

It’s not exactly one happy reunion, judging by the battles on the ice.

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“Right now, I don’t like them,” said Cougars rookie forward Jayden Wiens, a native of Carrot River. “Right now, I’m not a fan of any of them, but, obviously after, I’ll look them in the eye and shake their hand. Right now, it’s business for us. Obviously, it’s cool with eight Blades playing in this but I’ll take it as business now.”

And what about the former Prince Albert Raiders in the mix?

“Same goes for them,” said Wiens. “And I still don’t like them.”

The Huskies have taken a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three Canada West final following a 6-3 victory over the Cougars before a packed Merlis Belsher Place filled with 3,000 fans Friday night.

Game 2 goes Saturday night (7 p.m.) at MBP. A third game, if necessary, would be played Sunday night at 6 p.m.

“Lots of talent there from those Blades guys,” said former Blade forward Justin Lies who finished his junior career as an over-ager with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Flin Flon Bombers.

“It’s always good to see old friends. You play hard against them. I’m not giving them an inch; neither are they. It’s good competition out there.”

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While the Huskies have former Blades in Trevor Wong, Josh Pillar, Rhett Rhinehart and Ethan Chadwick, the Cougars counter with Wiens, Lies, Rosetown’s Vaughn Watterodt and Blake Stevenson.

“It’s pretty cool — you’re out there and you see familiar faces and you’re saying hi — it’s a lot of fun,” said Huskies second-year forward Pillar, a Warman product who ended his WHL career with the Blades.

“All of us are so competitive and we’re doing this for our teams and our cities. There’s definitely a lot (of extra motivation). We both want to win for sure.”

BOTH TEAMS GOING TO NATIONALS

Saskatchewan and Mount Royal have both already qualified for the upcoming University Cup national championship tournament March 20-23 in Ottawa, Ont. However, a Canada West banner is up for grabs this weekend, along with favourable seeding for nationals.

The Huskies are looking for another banner and W.G. Hardy Trophy.

“All of those guys, we would have loved to have as Huskies,” U of S coach Brandin Cote said of the four former Blades on the Cougars. “They’re really good players. They’re good people. They did great things for the Blades. I think, for our players and them on their side, I know I remember playing against my buddies and my former teammates in pro, even in junior, and it’s always one of those things where you don’t want to lose to them, right?”

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On Friday, the Huskies rebounded from a disastrous start, giving up three goals in the opening 10 minutes — including the first just 11 seconds in.

“The start wasn’t the best, but that’s playoff hockey — that’s the way it’s going to go sometimes,” said U of S goalie Roddy Ross, who played shutout hockey the rest of the way.

“I wasn’t worried at all for some reason. We have such a strong belief in this group. I knew that whatever was going to happen, we were going to come back — whether it was (Saturday) or Sunday. I knew this group was going to stick with it and keep going.

“Getting that win after the first game (last weekend against UBC in which Ross gave up a gift in overtime) was big and a confidence boost.”

Said Wiens: “I thought we came out hot, a good first 15-20 minutes. Then we let the foot off the gas and let them attack us. We’ve got to have to learn from it and play a full 60 (Saturday). We’ll need to learn to respond. It’s do or die.”

HUSKIES SCORED SIX UNANSWERED GOALS

Saskatchewan trailed 3-0 and 3-2 by periods, scoring six unanswered goals for the victory.

“It was a great start,” agreed Lies, a native of Flin Flon. “We came out, got on them quick. They’re not going to back away. It’s a big game and there’s a lot of pressure on everyone out there. There’s no quit on them. We’ve got to bring it for the whole 60.

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“There were times when we kind of let them get back into it. We let them get momentum. We let the crowd get back into it. We just got away from our game. We move on from this and we have another great opportunity (Saturday) to come in here and get that same start and play with that lead.”

Carter Stebbings, with two, Landon Kosior, Ethan Regnier, Chase Bertholet and Vince Loschiavo scored for the Huskies, who got outshot 40-27.

Kyle Walker, Josh Tarzwell and Lies had given the Cougars an early 3-0 lead.

“Every one will look at the 3-0 hole that we dug ourselves and you can’t make a habit of that against a good team like that, but I honestly didn’t think our period was that bad — we had three or four point-blankers,” offered Cote. “If you look at scoring chances in the first period, they were pretty even.

“We had to settle in a little bit and we didn’t waver. It was a great comeback.”

Along with the Blades alumni, there are a number of former Raiders, too, playing in the Canada West final. Saskatchewan features the likes of Kosior and Keaton Sorensen, while Mount Royal has Spencer Moe and Remy Aquilon.

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“I’ll give it to them (former Raiders),” admitted Lies, “a bit harder.”

A couple of former Melfort Mustangs are also on the two rosters but neither of them played Friday. The Cougars have Leith Olafson and the Huskies have Ben Tkachuk.

Mount Royal also has former Flin Flon Bomber, just like Lies, in Harmon Laser-Hume, as well as Warman’s Jaxon Martens, a former Melville Millionaire.

Also on the Cougars are a pair of former Regina Pats, Walker and Robbie Holmes.

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